I tried it but wouldn't try it again, The kite flipped and the bridle nearly wrapped around my neck. My advice would be to leave it, or if it stable and not rolling then there is the possibility of towing the rider out to it to pack it down or ,if you are confident, deflating by pulling a one pump hose off or the deflate valve and returning to the kite once it is incapable of catching the wind and towing it back in.

if the lines arent too wrapped you can always ride up to the bar and pull the oh shit to tow it home

and how well did that work for you ?

I thought of doing that well after if happened, a couple months after actually

If the conditions are good, steady winds, warm water and air, not to tired, got plenty of wetsuit etc etc then maybe give it a shot... otherwise it's a crap shoot with your own gear and your own well being. Is it worth it ? In our case we were land locked so a car was a better option IMO... but others didn't think that way

Finally, last week I had to rescue a friend kite and I did it, but in a different way.

I left my board in the shore. I did body drag carefully until I was close to the kite. I waited until the kite was in right position (front tube into wind) as toby said. Then entering from behind I laid on the front tube and after that I was capable of bringing it to the shore easily doing body drag again.

I've brought in two kites. Both were bridled and I hooked the extra board leash I carry on my harness through the outer most part of the bridle and just rode it in. No real problem other than the initial hook up and I could have released the second kite if things started to go bad. I do NOT recommend doing this but it worked well both times with no drama at all. But be prepared to bail at any moment as things can go very bad very quickly.

Conditions permitting, I like the first option to be dragging the kiter out to the kite to self rescue in. This way, the kiter can still get gear and himself back to the beach if it's not directly offshore. Then you can keep an eye on him and still bring him in if it doesn't work out and he has to let the kite go.

I have always thought that it would be a good idea to incorporate this type of rescue excersize into "kite contests"... similar to lifesaver contests.

When I do this kind of board or kite rescue, I use the "slow but sure" method. With a kite, I throw my kite to its safety, and then, deflate the leading edge of the loose kite, and roll up the kite around the inflated struts, and then haul in the lines and wrap everything up, so it turns into a little raft... then I grap the package by the bar, and relaunch my kite, and then, slowly drag the mess to the shore.

I rescued a board with boots, this summer, and concluded that a board with boots is the hardest thing to bring back to shore... very heavy, no handle or straps, by which to grab the board... if you try to put it on your lap and slowly drag everything, you find that all the fins, boots are in your face or cutting up your arms.

The easiest thing to rescue is a board with a short surf leash attached... just grap the leash, sling it over your shoulder and pinch the leash between your hand and the bar, so that you can keep both hands on the bar, and let go of the leash if needed, in a hurry. The board will drag behind you half out of the water, skipping along. Here is picture of a surf leash design that has an automatic release which disconnects from the rider, before the pull can spring the board back at the rider. When the board gets released the leash is still attached, and can be grabbed by a rescuer.

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